Commutator.



A. C. GILBERT.

COMMUTATOR.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 23.1916.

1,21 8,076. Patented Mar. 6, 1917.

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w 8 1 ENTOR. N z/ W W ATT RNEY UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALFRED C. .GILIBEBT, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE A. .C. GILBERT COMPANY, NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION OF CONNECTICUT.

COMMUTATOQR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 6, 1917.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALFRED C. GILBERT, a citizen of theQUnited States, residing in the city and county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Commutators, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to commutators, and more particularly to commutators adapted for use in connection with the armatures of toy electric motors, and in connection with reversing switches for such motors.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a very simple form of commutator which can be economically manufactured, and in which the metal commutator segments which are arranged to form a cylinder or drum are very firmly and reliably mounted on their supporting members. The joint between each segment and the insulating end disks of the commutator is of such a character that the device can be assembled with the greatest facility;

To these and other ends, the invention consists in the novel features and combinations of parts to be hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawing,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a commutator embodying my improvements;

Fig. 2 is an end view, looking from the left of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a view from the right hand end of Fig. 1;

Fig. d is a section on line 441- of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a detail of one of the end disks;

Fig. 6 is a plan view of a fragment of the I commutator with a portion thereof shown in section; and

Fig. 7 is an end elevation of a slightly modified form of the commutator.

In the particular form selected for illustration, the improved commutator consists of three metal segments 10, preferably of brass, attached to two end disks 11 of suitable insulating material, preferably a sheet of fiber. The segments 10 are arranged to form a cylinder with spaces between their adjacent side edges. Each end disk 11 has radially extending tongues 12 which pass through the respective segments. Each segment has a transverse slot 13 near each end adapted to make a tight fit with the corresponding tongues 12, said segment being supported on aimed tongues of the two end disks, as shown. The end disks 11 are protwo supporting tongues in the following manner: Each tongue 12 is provided with a notch 15, as shown in Fig. 5. This notch enters the tongue at one side thereof and when the parts are assembled is disposed within a slot 13 of the metal segment. An overhanging portion 15 is adjacent the notch 15 at the outside of the slot. The metal of the corresponding segment 10 is displaced so as to interlock with the tongue 12 by means of the notch 15, and preferably this is done by a staking process. After the parts have been assembled with the segments and the end disks in the proper relation, the commutator is held in a suitable die or like device, and a staking punch is caused to descend on one end of the commutator, for example, the right hand end shown in Fig. 1. This staking punch carries projections which bite into the edge of the commutator segments at 16 and displace the metal in a lengthwise direction relatively to the commutator whereby portions of the metal are forced into the notches 15, as shown at 17 in Fig. 6. Thus, each segment is interlocked with its supporting tongue by metal dis placed into the notch 15, and as the portion 15 overhangs or overlies the metal in the notch, it is impossible to pull the segment off of the insulating disk in the normal use of the device. After the segments have been staked to the insulating disk at one end of the commutator, the commutator is inverted in the die and the operation is then repeated so as to interlock the segments positively with the tongues at the opposite end of the commutator, as will be understood.

In the particular form shown, the segments 10 are provided with lengthwise extensions 18 at one end which serve for securing the electric conductors to the segments by soldering or otherwise.

In the form shown in Fig. 7, the staking of the segments is dispensed with, and I hold the segments on the end disks by means of rings 19 of insulating material slipped over the ends of the commutator after the segments have been placed over the tongues so as to prevent outward movement of the segments.

By the construction described, the commutator may be economically manufactured and it will withstand hard usage without breakage.

Without limiting myself to the precise construction shown, I claim:

1. In a commutator, the combination of a disk of insulating material having radial tongues and conductor segments having slots through which said tongues are inserted; substantially as described.

2. In a commutator, a pair of end disks having radial tongues, segments having slots fitting over said tongues, and means for preventing outward movement of the segments relatively to the tongues; substantially as described.

3. In a commutator, a plurality of partly cylindrical segments, each having a transverse slot adjacent one end thereof, a pair of disks of insulating material having radial extending tongues, each segment having the slots thereof engaged by tongues of the re spective disks, said tongues extending completely through said slots; substantially as described.

4:. In a commutator, the combination oi? an insulating disk having a radial tongue, said tongue having a lateral notch, and a segment having a slot whereby it is lit-ted over said tongue, the metal of said segment being displaced longitudinally of the segment so as to extend into said notch and.

interlock therewith; substantially as described.

lfn witness whereof, i have hereunto set my hand on the 21st day of June, 1916.

ALFRED C. GILBERT.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, 1]. G. 

